FORT CAMPBELL, Ky. – The staff of the Kalsu Replacement Company has streamlined in-processing, sponsorship and integration of incoming Soldiers arriving at Fort Campbell to their units, successfully creating a system that is informative for Soldiers and prevents the spread of COVID-19.
“Our primary function is to make sure Soldiers are taken care of when they arrive,” said Capt. Luke W. Frazier, company commander. “We integrate them into the 101st, we make sure their finance is taken care of, we take them to medical and to the central issuing facility, and we provide them with a newcomers brief, where the commanding general or one of his representatives will come down and welcome them to Fort Campbell.”
The Kalsu staff also briefs incoming Soldiers about the many services and resources available to them and their Families on Fort Campbell, and also ensures each Soldier is connected with a unit sponsor who will assist with integration into the new unit.
When COVID-19 safety measures were put in place, the Kalsu team immediately began problem-solving and adapting to the standards so the mission could continue.
“Our main concern was about social distancing,” Frazier said. “The welcome briefs usually are in a compact room with around 150 Soldiers at a time all sitting right next to each other. We knew we could no longer hold the briefs at Cole Park Commons, so we moved it to Fryar Stadium where we can space out Soldiers on the bleachers, social distance and they can still receive welcoming information.”
Frazier said the staff also had to focus on protecting each other from the potential spread of the virus.
Kalsu Soldiers and staff now wear personal protective equipment and maintain social distancing. They limit the number of Soldiers coming through the in-processing facilities and at welcome briefs. At this time, Family members of Soldiers cannot attend welcome briefs.
The Kalsu team also works closely with 101st Division Artillery Soldiers at the on-post quarantine and isolation facilities. Together, they created a system for incoming Soldiers to be safely processed through the quarantine and isolation facilities and into their new units.
Soldiers arriving from COVID-19 hotspots in the United States or from overseas are placed into quarantine. If any of these Soldiers are symptomatic, they are tested and placed in a separate quarantine facility. If a Soldier is COVID-19 positive, he or she will then be placed into the isolation facility and treated.
Sergeant First Class Desiree Murphy typically leads the master resiliency training class for Soldiers as they process through Kalsu. However, she and her team of instructors now help in-process Soldiers, manage and rotate Soldiers through the quarantine and isolation facilities.
“We have seven barracks we currently manage, which are the isolation barracks, symptomatic buildings, and asymptomatic buildings which are for Soldiers coming in from hotspot areas or overseas,” Murphy said.
Since March, Kalsu also has successfully received and integrated more than 700 Soldiers from advanced individual training into their units.
“They are coming from a controlled population at basic combat training and AIT,” Frazier said. “A reasonable assumption is the Army has had positive control of these Soldiers during that time and they would not have had outside contact with the COVID-19 population. They are shipped from their center of excellence either by military airlines or by a contracted bus. Contacts from the centers of excellence will arrange ahead of time with us and they let us know how many Soldiers are arriving and when.”
AIT Soldiers arriving by military airlines are immediately picked up by Kalsu cadre on sanitized buses at which time they will begin in-processing.
“We screen them before they arrive and again as we in-process them before we put them in barracks,” Frazier said. “If they have any symptoms, I immediately reach out to my staff where they will be placed into quarantine. Even if they are coming from a reasonably safe environment we still screen them and separate them from the general population.”
In addition to successfully communicating among the company, Kalsu staff also has built a successful partnership with the other teams they work with daily.
“We’ve been successful because we work as a team, we have good communication going between our Kalsu team and the other teams we work with, it’s basically become one team,” Murphy said. “It’s important to be adaptable because there is always change. When these restrictions are lifted, it could be a next-day change where we change how we operate. We need to be completely flexible.”
Despite all of the changes, Frazier said his team has taken the new preventive measures for COVID-19 in stride.
“I have a good team that understands the guidance and intent and can execute the mission,” he said. “My Soldiers and cadre are all very helpful. I think they’ve handled it very well.”
Sergeant First Class Jamie Decker works for operations at Kalsu, working closely with the Soldier Support Center and other on-post agencies, and has helped develop a quicker in-processing system.
“Usually in-processing is a two-week process, but with COVID-19 we have shortened it down to three days,” Decker said. “We had to tighten our activity and adjust to minimum manpower that the civilians can handle. We had to adjust our manpower and move our workdays around so it could fit both our schedule and the civilians’ schedules. We are a bridge between the civilian [operated] agencies and the rest of the Kalsu team and the Soldiers who in-process here.”
Despite the new operations battle rhythm, the Kalsu team has adapted and problem-solved quickly and efficiently.
“We’ve had time to adjust and fix any challenges that have come up in order to accomplish our mission,” Decker said. “If we weren’t able to adapt, we couldn’t in-process the Soldiers properly, and we would have a backflow of Soldiers waiting to in-process. We’ve been able to push them through regularly, keep our numbers down and continue to bring new Soldiers to Fort Campbell. If you can’t adapt to a situation, you can’t accomplish the mission. You have to adapt to overcome.”
As they’ve adjusted to faster optempo, the Kalsu team also has shifted its focus to making sure units are welcoming new Soldiers quicker than before.
In doing so, unit sponsors have to reach out quicker to incoming Soldiers, Frazier said. “Kalsu has placed an increased emphasis on sponsorship, engaging with the Soldiers twice a day to make sure their units have reached out to them, and reporting to their units if the sponsors have not reached out. The units do a great job, but because of our shorter timelines, we created a bigger emphasis on it. I think we will continue to do this moving forward in normal operations. It’s an important part of a Soldier’s in-processing.”
Frazier said Families of Soldiers in-processing should be aware Kalsu is taking a close look at each Soldier who arrives and screening each carefully. Soldiers coming through in-processing should wear PPE and limit their interaction to the outside population.
“We’re doing the right thing here on Fort Campbell,” Frazier said. “My guys have not stopped working since this came about. We’ve been essential since the beginning, they’ve come through with everything I’ve asked of them, even when it’s been difficult. I appreciate their hard work, we wouldn’t be here without them.”
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